Horse racing notebook: Doctor gets the racing itch

HORSE RACING NOTEBOOKKass knows symptoms of a good deal

HAL LUNDGREN, For the Chronicle |
February 4, 2010

Dr. Jeffrey Kass, right, with one of his former jockeys, the late Bill Shoemaker.

Off he went to Harvard, a classically trained pianist majoring in art history, his career target far from the keyboard or easel.

Jeffrey Kass would be just like his big brother — get his first degree in fine arts at Harvard and then enroll in medical school.

“It was a little different in college for me,” Dr. Kass said with chuckle, “going from a class in Greek art to (one in) organic chemistry.”

As a physician, Kass chose radiology. Now 59, he retired early because of back problems. His small art gallery requires moments here and there. But his big time-grabber, unlike medicine and art, pounced on him by accident.

One day at Harvard, unruly demonstrators shut the place down. Wanting to escape the campus hubbub, Kass hopped a commuter train to the local horse track, Suffolk Downs. The bug bit him, and that bite has never healed.

“I've been a small-time horse claimer since 1983,” Kass said. “I'm not a multimillionaire who can claim expensive horses and run them in major races. I enjoy finding lower-cost horses.”

The San Antonio native and Woodlands resident has claimed “dozens and dozens of horses.” He snatched one of his favorites, Double Your Flavor, for $4,000. Double Your Flavor won 17 races at Sam Houston Race Park, the most by any horse.

Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum, one of racing's wealthiest owners, purchased a yearling for $500,000. When the animal did not run well, the United Arab Emirates vice president sold him to Kass for $6,000.

Kass makes claims without seeing the horse he wants to buy.

“I do it by studying the racing form,” he said. “I look at the Beyer number ( a bold-faced number that measures a horse's performance in each race).”

“I also pay attention to who's training a horse,” he said. “If you claim from a top trainer, there's a good chance you will be getting a well-conditioned horse.”

Entrants in higher-value races (stakes and allowances) cannot be claimed. Claiming races are lower-dollar events. To prevent good horses from dropping into claiming races and winning constantly, tracks put a price on their head, so to speak. An owner or trainer can pluck somebody else's horse from a claiming race simply by paying the pre-established claiming price.

For someone like Kass, the game is more than a hobby.

“It's not something you can count on to return lots of money all the time,” he said. “But I'm divorced and have no children, so I'm free to do it.”

Purse correction

Saturday's Connally Breeder's Cup Turf carried a purse of $200,000. It was incorrectly reported in Sunday's Chronicle as $300,000. That total was the combined value of the evening's races.

Cuts for New Jersey

With New Jersey horse racing facing an estimated loss of $13 million in 2010, the state's oversight body has recommended two major cutbacks. The changes would trim Monmouth Park's thoroughbred meet to 50 days and toss thoroughbreds from the schedule at Meadowlands, which is primarily a harness track.